Sam was blunt.
“He told me he wanted to represent the United States at the Junior World Mountain Bike Championships,” Gallego said.
“Sam sets his goals high,” Gallego said. “He’s willing to work as hard as he needs to.”
Schultz, the current under-23 national champion and new Subaru-Fisher team rider, goes to West Dover, Vt., this weekend to defend his title.
Schultz got an early start with racing, finishing his first race when he was only 13.
“After my first race I was totally hooked, though I wasn’t particularly good,” he said. “The next year I did as many races as I could.”
Mountain bike racing isn’t a comfortable thing, but for Schultz, and many other riders, the pain was part of the attraction.
“You push yourself hard, harder than you think you can go, and afterwards you’re, like, ‘sweet, that was awesome’,” he said.
According to Gallego, Schultz had all the necessary natural talent when they started working together, but hadn’t had the systematic approach to training that a coach can provide.
“To be great you have to do more than just ride recreationally,” Gallego said. “When you race, you’re riding with a heart rate of 174-178. It’s a difficult thing to sustain.”
When he was a junior racer, Gallego said that he had Schultz on his bike 15-18 hours a week. When he turned 18 that went up to 20-25 hours a week.
After graduating from Hellgate High School in 2004, Schultz headed to Colorado Springs, Colo., to take his racing to the next level and go to class at the University of Colorado when his riding didn’t get in the way.
Once he earned a spot on the U23 National Mountain Bike Team, Schultz lived and trained at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
Over the next several years, Schultz raced all over the country and around the world, tallying up points at each race.
In the cycling world, a rider’s national or international standing is determined by a system that awards riders points based on their performance. Some races are worth more than others.
The Aigle, Switzerland-based International Cycling Union (UCI?by its French initials) tracks international ranking while the National Off-Road Bicycle Association tracks U.S. mountain biking rankings.
Last year in Sonoma, Calif., Schultz staked out his place at the top by winning the U23 National Championships, a feat his older brother Andy had accomplished just the year before.
Schultz’s impressive 2006 performance landed him a spot on the Subaru Gary Fisher mountain bike team. The team keeps him in bikes, gear, free travel to races, a stipend, and a “sweet” Subaru Outback for the year.
“It’s definitely not a bad gig,” Schultz said.
As a Subaru-Fisher rider, Schultz has had a stellar year so far. Among the many highlights, Schultz took second place at the U23 Pan-American Championships in Villa la Angostura, Argentina, and a ninth place overall finish in the cross-country race at the Sea Otter Classic, a semi-international race in Monterey, Calif.
While many kids his age are finishing up with college and starting to consider career options, Schultz is already being paid to do what he loves. This has made focusing on school difficult, to say the least.
“It makes it even harder to make it to class,” he said. “I can tell myself I can go ride because riding is my job.”
Schultz thinks of himself first as a mountain biker and then a student, but despite the priority he gives his riding, Schultz has maintained a 3.6 GPA as an environmental studies and geography double major.
To accommodate his training and lessen the academic strain, Schultz is only a part-time student in the spring and a full-time student in the fall. His racing commitments still cut out a month of class each fall semester, making his academic performance all the more impressive.
Schultz can’t see himself doing anything but racing, but he acknowledges that his racing days can’t last forever.
“I have no idea what I actually want to do for a living,” he said. “But eventually reality is going to set in and I’ll have to get a real job. I can figure things out later.”
Until then, though, Schultz is doing what he does best and his parents are behind him.
Bill and Cindy Schultz will be cheering him on this weekend in Vermont, as they’ve done many weekends before.
Having chosen a fairly unorthodox path, they’re support has been vital for Sam.
“They ‘re understanding of how much I love cycling,” he said. “They’re super fans.”
Schultz is heading into this weekend in less than ideal circumstances. Having just gotten over an illness, his training regimen has suffered.
“In the last five weeks I’ve only had one week of riding. I’m definitely not as trained as I’d like to be,” he said.
With the 2008 Beijing Olympics looming, a little bit more is riding on Schultz’s performance than usual.
To be chosen to represent the U.S., Schultz must first be chosen for the eight-man Olympic long team. Team selection is based on UCI?ranking and Schultz is sitting favorably. From the long team up to three riders will be chosen, depending on American mountain biking performance.
According to the UCI’s Web site, Schultz is currently ranked 84th in the world and is the sixth highest ranked American.
Despite the eminence of the Olympics, however, Schultz is calm and collected about the whole thing.
“It’s not like the Olympics are my big goal,” he said. “Mainly I’m just doing it because I can’t think of a better job to have.”
Murphy Woodhouse is a journalism student at the University of Montana and a Missoulian intern. Reach him at 523-5240.
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